Cookies
by suburbs
Summary: Nate and his daughter make cookies.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Camp Rock._

_AN: Special thanks to everyone who voted. Especially Kelly, who was the one to suggest the idea of a Nate/Melody story, but didn't vote for her own idea in the poll (which made me laugh)._

"So, Mel, it looks like it is just you and me this afternoon," Nate said to his daughter. "What do you want to do?"

Melody shrugged, still a little sad that her big sister got to go to a birthday party while she had to stay home. It seemed so unfair; Annabelle always got to do all the fun stuff. It was difficult to be the youngest.

"Mom said you wanted to make cookies. How about we do that?" Nate suggested.

Melody grimaced.

"What?" Nate said. "Didn't you want to make cookies?"

"I wanted to make cookies with Mommy. She's fun cause she lets me help. You just make me watch," Melody pouted. Nate was a perfectionist, and he had trouble giving up control sometimes. He knew he needed to work on this, but it was hard to change a lifetime of habits. Some things that made him a great businessman and artist weren't as effective when applied to parenting.

"Mom's more fun than me, huh?" Nate said looking down at Melody.

Melody, worried that maybe she had hurt her Daddy's feelings, began clarifying. "Mommy's more fun cooking, Daddy. You're the funnest tickler and at bed time. Even better than Uncle Jason."

Nate smiled at Melody and reached out to ruffle her hair. "How about I promise to let you help this time?"

Melody looked skeptical, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. She sighed, "Okay, Daddy. But if it gets boring, I'm going to go draw."

"It's a deal, Mel."

Nate had not anticipated how difficult it was going to be to let go of the control. They had to start out beating the sugar and butter together, and it took so much longer when Melody did it. He noticed that he was gritting his teeth, and took a deep breath. He needed to just relax; the world wouldn't end if the cookies didn't taste good.

"Hey, Daddy," Melody said happily. "Am I doing good?"

He looked over at her sparkling eyes. "You're doing great, Mel. It's almost time for the eggs. Should I break them for you?"

Melody frowned. "No, Daddy. I can do it. Nana Connie showed me how. She told me that I'm an expert. Even better than Annabelle!"

Mitchie's mom loved to come and play with the girls. Apparently she had been giving cooking lessons while he wasn't around. Nate held up his hands defensively. "Sorry. I will go get the eggs for you, and you can show me.

Nate held his breath as the five year old insisted on cracking the eggs over the bowl. He figured he could always send her to get the raisins out of the pantry if he needed to fish the shells out of the batter. But she did a great job, and both eggs ended up in the bowl without any mishaps.

"Wow, baby," Nate said admiringly. "Nana Connie was right. You are en expert egg-cracker."

Melody grinned at her father, obviously pleased by his praise. She reached for the vanilla and started to pour before he could help her measure it. Nate's eyes went wide when he saw he put in twice as much as the recipe called for. He held his tongue and handed her the spoon. "Why don't you go ahead and mix everything together while I go get the next ingredients?"

He had no idea what that much vanilla would do to the cookies. Maybe they would just be very vanilla tasting.

"Mel, how about I measure the dry ingredients and you can dump them in the bowl?" he suggested. Vanilla was one thing, but these cookies would never recover if she did the same thing with the salt. Melody looked up at her dad and down at the bowl. She finally nodded and went back to mixing.

"I'm ready now," Melody announced. Nate handed her measuring cups and spoons to dump into the cookies. She slowly stirred the mix until everything was smooth.

"Now for the oats and raisins," Nate announced. He looked at the box of raisins and handed it along with a measuring cup to his daughter. "The recipe says a cup, so just fill this with raisins and dump them in."

Melody's tongue stuck out of her mouth as she concentrated on carefully placing raisins in the measuring cup. She looked up at her father when she had finished. "I want more raisins. That's not enough," she insisted.

They were already off recipe, so Nate handed over the box and let her add more.

"Can I help put the cookies on the baking sheet?" Nate asked.

"Sure Daddy, but not all of them," she admonished.

"Of course not. We're doing this together," Nate insisted. He carefully measured a tablespoon of batter and placed it on the tray next to the baseball sized cookie Melody had just created.

"Hey, Mel, what about splitting that in half?" Nate asked.

Melody rolled her eyes at her dad and plopped another massive cookie down next to Nate's small mound of dough. He knew that in order for her cookies to cook, his would be burned to a crisp. He made a quick decision, picking up his cookie and putting it back in the bowl.

"You know what? You're doing such a great job; you should just make them all."

"Thanks, Daddy," Melody said happily.

Nate was going to have to keep a careful eye on the cookies because the suggested cooking time was going to be of no use with Melody's monster cookies. As soon as the cookies went into the oven, he turned to his daughter.

"Do you want to go draw a picture while I clean up?" he asked.

"I can help you clean, Daddy," Melody offered.

"No, that's okay." Nate said quickly. He saw Melody's face fall when he refused her offer. "How about you go get your crayons and draw while I put stuff away. Then you can get a sponge and wipe up the counters.

Melody's smile return quickly.

When Caitlyn arrived home, she stopped and stared. Her youngest daughter had pieces of what looked like hardened oatmeal stuck in her hair, and she was smearing flour and water all over the counter with a very wet sponge. Her husband had a streak of flour across one cheek and was transferring some large, dark brown lumps from the cooling rack to a plate.

She crossed the kitchen and pulled him into a passionate kiss. He was a little breathless when she finally pulled away.

"Hello to you too, Caity. What was that for?"

She smiled tenderly at him. "For not being perfect," she said simply.

He looked confused. "Huh?"

Caitlyn stood on her toes to whisper in Nate's ear. "I know it must have been torturous for you to let her make those." Nate blushed. "But seeing you there covered in flour holding those lumpy cookies is one on the sexiest things I've ever seen."

Nate laughed and pulled his wife into a one-armed hug. "Hey, girls! We should make chocolate chip cookies next week!"


End file.
